Tag: pro wrestling

Injury Report: Late Mone Cash Out

Although they waited 4 days to do so, New Japan has finally confirmed what the world already knew-Mercedes Mone was injured at Resurgence. Right ankle. New Japan only said she underwent a “thorough appraisal immediately after her match and began treatment”. It happened in the main event when she lost to Willow Nightingale for the STRONG Women’s Championship. This cones amidst unconfirmed rumors Mone signed for more dates with NjPW and Stardom but is now out indefinitely amidst persistent rumors-and more hopes from the internet-that she could be headed to All Elite Wrestling.

More as it becomes available.

Tokyo Joshi Pro 5/24/23 Results

Tokyo Joshi Pro ran a Hyper Misao Produced mini-event today, the first time the promotion’s resident “hero” had her turn running things, and it was mostly comedy of course.

Today’s event was held at Kitazawa Town Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Sunday or Monday). There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 202, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: A Hyper Misao 2 Audition Battle Royal technically had no winner. The match itself was won by Suzume, last eliminating Miu Watanabe, but Suzume declined to win.

Match 2: Yoshihiko (DDT) beat Shoko Nakajima. This is the match I’m waiting to see.

Main Event: Rika Tatsumi & Arisu Endo beat Yuki Aino & Mahiro Kiryu. Tatsumi beat Kiryu with a dragon sleeper. It was announced a couple days ago that Tatsumi would return for this event after missing about a week with the always-vague poor physical condition.

The next event is Saturday at Fujisawa City Shonandai Cultural Center in Kanagawa, back in Yuki Kamifuku’s hometown to continue the spring house show tour. Aja Kong participation is set for this event. There will be no live broadcast.

AEW Dynamite 5/24/23 Results

Here are the quick results from tonight’s AEW Dynamite in Las Vegas, NV:

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy beat Kyle Fletcher (New Japan) to retain the title. Afterwards, AEW announced they have signed Aussie Open (Fletcher & Mark Davis).

AEW Trios Champions House Of Black beat AR Fox, Blake Christian & Metalik to retain the titles. Brody King beat Christian with a sleeper hold.

Taya Valkyrie beat Lady Frost.

Adam Cole-Chris Jericho contract signing for Sunday’s Unsanctioned Match. Cole has brought in Sabu as a special enforcer.

Tony Khan announced the Collision premiere on 6/17 will be in Chicago, IL. Not mentioned in any form: CM Punk, who is expected to return to AEW then. Reportedly the hold-up was Ace Steel, who apparently Punk has to have around for creative. We’ll see what happens.

Roderick Strong beat Daniel Garcia.

ROH Tag Team Champions Lucha Bros beat Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta to retain the titles.

It was okay for a PPV go-home. Matches were so-so but promos and video packages were excellent.

Rampage airtime is “check local listings” because it will depend on NHL and NBA Eastern Conference Finals Game 4/5 outcomes. As of this post NHL Game 4, with Florida leading Carolina 3-0 in the series, had 15 minutes to go and it was 3-2 Florida. If Carolina wins, Game 5 is Friday at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT. NBA Game 5 between Miami & Boston is Thursday and it’s now 3-1 Miami. If Boston wins, Game 6 would be Saturday at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT on TNT with Rampage originally rumored to follow NBA. Spoilers will be posted when available.

News: New Tiger Mask Introduced

Longtime puroresu fans (and New Japan fans in particular) may be familiar with Tiger Mask, the iconic masked wrestler based on classic Japanese comics that partially inspired fellow icon Jushin Liger and eternal nemesis Black Tiger (often portrayed the last two decades by Rocky Romero). Originally created by former wrestler Satoru Sayama, he unveiled the new Tiger Mask 7 today…but it’s not a wrestler. According to a Twitter post by Mark Pickering, who does English-language commentary for some Pro Wrestling NOAH events on WRESTLE UNIVERSE, TM 7 is actually kickboxing star Takeru Segawa, who will not be wrestling as the new Tiger Mask. Pickering indicates it’s a charity project as Sayama wants Segawa to continue his work and spread the TM name worldwide.

The current active Tiger Mask, TM 4, continues to compete in New Japan. Others to have been TM in the past include Sayama, Mitsuharu Misawa (TM 2) and Koji Kanemoto (TM 3).

The original Twitter source post is below.

New Japan 5/24/23 Results

New Japan ran Day 10 of Best Of The Super Junior today, finishing up Block B and setting the second half of the Semifinals. Whoever came out on top today get Mike Bailey & Titan next.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 819, a full house/near sellout.

Match 1: Oskar Leube & Mike Bailey beat Yuto Nakashima & Lio Rush. Leube pinned Nakashima after a flying body attack.

Match 2: Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI & Taichi. EVIL pinned TAKA after EVIL.

Match 3: Titan & Hiromu Takahashi beat Ryusuke Taguchi & KUSHIDA. Titan pinned Taguchi after a swan dive foot stomp.

Best Of The Super Junior Block B:
Match 4: BUSHI beat Francesco Akira.
Match 5: Dan Moloney beat Clark Connors by countout.
Match 6: Master Wato beat Kevin Knight.
Match 7: Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Yoh by submission. As a result, Wato advances to the Semifinals.
Main Event: El Desperado beat Robbie Eagles by submission. As a result, Desperado advances to the Semifinals.
Because both finished tied at the top, Desperado wins Block B on tiebreaker over Wato, which was head-to-head result. That means the Semifinals will be Wato vs. Bailey and Desperado vs. Titan.

The Semifinals are Friday at Yoyogi National Stadium Gym 2 in Tokyo. Live streaming on New Japan World and ABEMA will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET, and even better, everyone will be able to watch the entire event FOR FREE! No account or login required!

BREAKING: Saki Akai Retiring

Shocking news from DDT: Just a day after announcing her next 10th Anniversary event, Saki Akai announced she is retiring in November. Her final event will be November 12 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

More as it becomes available.

Notes from her press conference with Sanshiro Takagi: it’s a personal decision to retire but she also wants to focus more on modeling and her beauty salon, plus she’s managed to stay healthy and doesn’t want to overstay her welcome. Takagi says she’ll always have a place in DDT and could stay on in a non-wrestling role. He did grant one request Akai had-a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Title match as she has a deep affection for the title. So at WRESTLE PETER PAN on 7/23 it will be Champions Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Ryota Nakatsu vs. Akai, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani for the titles.

Among wrestlers commenting and sending well-wishes on social media is Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestler and SKE48 member Yuki Arai. Saki helped Arai win her first championship last year as they spent several months as Princess Tag Team Champions. Saki made semi-regular appearances in TJPW as both herself and her French-themed alter-ego Sakisama, a darker, sexier version of herself who teamed with independent fan favorite Mei Suruga, who became loyal maid/servant May Saint-Michel as part of Neo-Bishiki-Gun. Sometimes Yukio Sakaguchi joined them in TJPW.

Below is video of the presser in Japanese courtesy of the DDT Official YouTube channel:

New Japan 5/23/23 Results

New Japan ran Day 9 of Best Of The Super Junior today, wrapping up Block A and determining who would advance to the Semifinals.

Today’s event was held at Osaka Prefectural Gym 2 in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World in Japanese and English.

The announced paid attendance was 831, a full house/near sellout. Osaka remains stricter about capacity limits than most of Japan despite pandemic restrictions being abolished.

Match 1: TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Oskar Leube & Yuto Nakashima. Khan pinned Nakashima after FGO (Fate/Grapple-O-Khan).

Match 2: Ryohei Oiwa & El Desperado beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Desperado beat Fujita with Numero Dos.

Match 3: Dan Moloney & Francesco Akira beat Gedo & Clark Connors. Akira pinned Gedo after Speedfire.

Match 4: Kevin Knight, Master Wato & Yoh beat TAKA Michinoku, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Taichi. Knight pinned TAKA after a Spike DDT.

Best Of The Super Junior Block A:
TJP beat Taiji Ishimori by forfeit (injury).
Match 5: Ryusuke Taguchi beat KUSHIDA.
Match 6: Sho beat DOUKI.
Match 7: Mike Bailey beat Lio Rush. As a result, Bailey wins Block A and advances to the Semifinals.
Main Event: Titan beat Hiromu Takahashi. As a result, Titan finishes 2nd in Block A and advances to the Semifinals. No 4-peat for Takahashi.

Day 10 is tomorrow with the final day of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

Dragon Gate 5/22/23 Results

Dragon Gate continued the Hopeful Gate 2023 Tour today with another house show in Hokkaido.

Today’s event was held at Hakodate Arena on Hokkaido. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 356. A super full house/very near sellout.

Match 1: Jason Lee & Strong Machine J beat Dragon Dia & La Estrella. Lee pinned Estrella after Maximum Driver.

Match 2: Diamante beat Minorita.

Match 3: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda beat Dragon Kid & U-T. Kanda pinned U-T after Ryu’s.

Match 4: Madoka Kikuta & Yuki Yoshioka beat BIGBOSS Shimizu & JACKY “FUNKY” KAMEI. Kikuta pinned KAMEI after a rolling lariat.

Match 5: Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Bonito beat YAMATO, Kzy & Punch Tominaga. Bonito pinned Tominaga after a diving body press.

Main Event: Kota Minoura, BxB Hulk & Ben-K beat Shun Skywalker, KAI & H-Y-O. Hulk pinned H-Y-O after First Flash.

The next event is tomorrow at Morioka Gym in Iwate. There will be no live broadcast.